OpenAIThe head of the robotics hardware from came out. Caitlin Kalinowski, who oversaw hardware in OpenAI’s robotics division, posted on that she was resigning from her position, while criticizing the company’s rush to partner with the Ministry of Defense without investigating appropriate guardrails. OpenAI told Engadget that there are no plans to replace Kalinowski.
Kalinowski, who previously worked at Meta before joining OpenAI in late 2024, written the that “surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got.” Responding to another message, the former OpenAI executive explained that “the announcement was rushed without the safeguards being defined”, adding that it was above all a “governance problem”.
OpenAI confirmed Kalinowski’s resignation and said in a statement to Engadget that the company understands that people have “strong opinions” on these issues and will continue to engage in discussions with affected parties. The company also explained in the statement that it does not support the issues raised by Kalinowski.
“We believe our agreement with the Pentagon paves the way for responsible use of AI in national security, while clarifying our red lines: no domestic surveillance and no autonomous weapons,” reads the OpenAI press release.
Kalinowski’s resignation may be the highest-profile consequence of OpenAI’s decision to sign a deal with the Department of Defense. The decision came just after Anthropic has refused to remove some AI barriers around mass surveillance and develop fully autonomous weapons. However, even the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altmansaid he would amend the agreement with the Defense Department to ban spying on Americans.
Correction, March 8, 2026, 10:30 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to correct Kalinowski’s role at OpenAI to “robotics hardware manager” instead of “robotics manager.”
This article was originally published on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-robotics-hardware-lead-resigns-following-deal-with-the-department-of-defense-195918599.html?src=rss
